Oilers scrap out shootout win vs. Wild

SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- Stuck in 29th place in the league standings as the season winds down, somebody forgot to tell the Edmonton Oilers that their year, and their game in Minnesota, was over.

Trailing 3-1 midway through the third period, the Oilers got goals from left winger David Perron and right winger Jordan Eberle late in regulation, then the shootout goals from Eberle, Perron and left winger Taylor Hall, lifting them to a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.

"It would've been real easy to pack it in, call it a night and get on to the next game, but our guys refused to do it," said Oilers coach Dallas Eakins, after his team won for the third time in its past four games. "They just kept scrapping and clawing and it's tough against a team like that."

Edmonton (23-35-8) got 28 saves from goaltender Victor Fasth, who was making his first start for the Oilers after coming over from the Anaheim Ducks in a March 4 trade.

The Wild (34-22-9) got first-period goals from left winger Zach Parise, defenseman Jared Spurgeon and right winger Jason Pominville in a 4:16 span but could not muster any more offense and dropped their third game in a row. Even with a commanding lead early, the Wild sensed trouble brewing.

"You could just sense, even though we were up 3-0, we weren't feeling good," Parise said. "We played with no intensity, no urgency, felt like we got a little cocky and that was it. We let them right back into the game. And they didn't go away. They kept coming at us, but we let them back."

After going the first eight minutes of the game without a shot on goal, the Wild exploded for three goals in quick succession.

Parise, playing in his 600th career game, started the run with a power-play goal, depositing his own rebound after Fasth made a sprawling pad save.

Spurgeon was credited with the goal after his shot from the blue line deflected off Edmonton defenseman Justin Schultz's leg and high into the net.

"That's how it is to be a goalie," said Fasth, who is now 3-2-1 this season. "Some days the pucks go in and some days you just can't make the save. I had three goals early in the game and it couldn't get worse than that. You just have to battle your way though and try to fight back into the game."

After Pominville scored his team-leading 24th goal of the season for Minnesota, the Oilers answered when defenseman Jeff Petry banked a wide-angle shot off the skate of Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin and beyond the reach of Minnesota goalie Darcy Kuemper. It was Petry's fifth goal of the season and his first point since before the Olympic break.

The scoreless second period was a festival of special teams. The Wild killed off three penalties and the Oilers survived an 84-second stretch of a Minnesota two-man advantage.

"If they score there, it's over," Eberle said. "Our (penalty kill) was great tonight, but still our power play's got to be better. That's kind of been the story of our team. But at the end of the day we stayed with it and found a way to get two points."

Perron scored midway through the third period to ramp up the pressure on Minnesota, and Eberle forged a 3-3 tie with just under five minutes left in regulation, scoring after Kuemper gave up a meaty rebound of a dump-in from center ice by defenseman Andrew Ference.

Kuemper finished with 23 saves. Fasth allowed shootout goals by Parise and center Mikko Koivu but stopped Pominville and left winger Matt Moulson for the win. The Wild had been on a five-game winning streak coming out of the Olympic break, but are now 0-1-2 since getting Moulson and goalie Illya Bryzgalov at the trade deadline.

"Obviously we had some momentum, we had kind of a good thing going, and now we're kind of struggling to find the right mix, the right chemistry, whatever it is," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "We're not in sync, we're not the same that we were, not consistently enough. As long as we keep working to find that, once we find that we'll be fine, but we've got to aim to do it sooner rather than later."

NOTES: The start of Tuesday's game was delayed for a few minutes as the Wild held an on-ice ceremony honoring LW Matt Cooke, who was playing in his 1,000th NHL game. Cooke, with his family on hand, was presented with a ceremonial silver stick and an all-terrain vehicle. ... Oilers rookie D Oscar Klefbom made his NHL debut after being recalled from AHL Oklahoma City. His first NHL game came in the same building where he first technically became an Oiler, as Edmonton picked the Swede in the first round of the 2011 draft, held at Xcel Energy Center. ... Wild C Mikael Granlund, who led Team Finland offensively at the Olympics, assisted on two of Minnesota's three first period goals, giving him 14 points in the Wild's last 13 games. ... Edmonton, in the midst of a four-game road trip, will visit the St. Louis Blues on Thursday. Minnesota, which is playing four in a row at home, hosts the New York Rangers on Thursday.